


The Way Home

by Mistress_of_the_Underground



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Rich!Jeno, Running Away, Soulmates, Staged Kidnapping, Werewolf Mates, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 11:54:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20257693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistress_of_the_Underground/pseuds/Mistress_of_the_Underground
Summary: "Home is a feeling, not a place, Hyung. Your home wasn't there if your heart screams for another."Or, in which Jeno can't take the life without love and plans to run away. Before he can do so, he gets kidnapped and taken home, where his heart belongs.





	1. Chapter 1

„Jisung!”

Jeno’s loud voice is hysterical as he storms around in the darkness of the forest. He can’t see anything around him. His screams are high pitched, his voice hoarse from the screaming when he calls out for Jisung again. He runs as fast as he can, stumbling around and occasionally falling on his hands and knees when he slips on the wet ground or when his feet get caught behind the roots he can’t see. Branches tear at his face, it burns when his salty tears sweep right into the cuts on his face. He hates the feeling of blood mixing with his tears. The trees rip his clothes to shreds. He doesn’t care what happens or how bad he will look. He needs him. He needs Jisung. He needs his best friend more than ever before.

Jeno hates the pitch-black forest around him. He is scared of the dark. He never told it to anyone before. He was a man, after all, he couldn’t be afraid of something so childish. Disgraceful. Jisung figured it out after a while, he never gave a damn about it though. He had been there, calmed him down and never mentioned it again after he made sure that Jeno understood that there is nothing wrong with being afraid of something – man or not.

He has never before tried to reach Jisung in the dark. He barely knows the way to the places the younger spends his free time when the sun is still up and everything is coloured golden with its hue. Jeno isn’t even sure if he will ever find the younger. No one can guarantee that he is at any of the places he has shown Jeno either. It scares the hell out of Jeno, to be honest. He has no idea if he will find the one he craves for or if he will be out in the cold the whole night till he is so lost that he will never find his way out of there again. He doesn’t want to die out here alone.

Jisung has always found Jeno and not the other way around. Jeno doesn’t know where the other man could be hiding, he doesn’t know where he lives. He could be anywhere. In another part of the forest, in a different forest. Maybe he doesn’t even live around here. Maybe he lives in the mountains he always wishfully stares towards that are visible over the blue lake.

“Jisung!”

His voice breaks when he screams out the name again. He furiously wipes away the tears streaming down his face, but it doesn’t help. He can’t see anything. He can feel the cold seeping into his bones. His hands shake and all he wants is Jisung, Jeno wants the others warmth as much as he craves for the comfort the other could give with just his hugs.  
He never wants to go back to his parents. He doesn’t want to see either of them ever again. All he wants is Jisung. They never cared for him as Jisung does. They don’t love him as he does. They weren’t there for Jeno like he was and still is. He misses the others warm hugs and calming voice soothing him.

He wants only the man who has been there when everything is hard. When his dreams and life were threatened, he still didn’t leave Jeno behind. All he did, he changed the times they met, changed the locations, but not once did he turn his back to him. Only him. He is the one that matters to Jeno. Not anyone else. Not some rich woman he never saw before, but who was “royalty” and only cared for fame and expensive clothes. To say that she would give a fuck about Jeno’s feelings when his own family didn’t was likely so wrong that even a rat wouldn’t believe it.

He doesn’t want to see the glint in his father’s eyes that was there the whole evening again. He doesn’t want him to treat Jeno’s marriage as if it is just another gold hole to earn money from. Like if it is just another family he could boss around. But who is he kidding, of course, it is. The man has never cared for others happiness before. If they brought something valuable in, they are worth to be kept around, but if they didn’t, they didn’t deserve to be the dirt on the soles of his shoes.

That's why his father hates Jisung so much. What could the orphaned boy give to his family if happiness and love aren't worth anything? Nothing. A lowlife like Jisung isn't worth a rat's ass in his eyes. People with money and power are too good to interact with people like Jisung. His parents had dragged him away from the boy with the cutest smile the moment they saw his clothes and manners. Jisung's clothing had always been cheap and casual. He didn't own a single designer suit, he never wanted one either. The boy had no idea what to do if he was given five different forks. And while Jeno finds it adorable, his parents found it disgusting and disgraceful. 

So lost in memories of the pink-haired boy and the warmth of his hugs when he wraps himself all around him, Jeno stumbles upon a root of a tree he didn’t even see. He didn’t feel the rough bark of it under his searching hands either before all balance is lost. A short scream tores from his throat before all he feels is freezing water surrounding him whole. The icy cold drags him under and fills his mouth, slipping down his throat. In his panic, he tries to pull in mouthfuls of air, but all that fills his lungs is the freezing water. He can’t breathe, he chokes on the water in his lungs, in his throat. But all he manages is to pull only more of it in. He can feel how his limbs fight to keep the pain of needles that pierce his skin away. He can feel them succumb to the numbness the water brings. He can feel the water pushing him deeper into the darkness. He is too tired to fight with it. He can’t feel his legs, he can’t feel his arms. The cramps lost all pain as his nerve’s freeze and lose feelings.

That’s it. He will never see Jisung again. He’ll never be able to laugh over Jisung scrunching his nose again whenever something fancy is mentioned. He will never see the other’s eyes squeezed shut when he laughs whole-heartedly again. He will never feel the other’s warm hugs again.

Jisung’s warming smile is the last thing he thinks of before everything goes dark and he knows no more.


	2. Chapter 2

The looming magnificent woods are quiet and the darkness has started to fall around the calmness that rules under the green leaves of the highest branches. The wind dances between the trees, dragging green and dry leaves to join it in its cheerful movements. The usual chirps and calls of the birds chasing each other are melodic rather than bothering. The high-pitch barks of the little foxes running around in the nearby clearing, chasing their tails and play-fighting like the cubs they are, calms Jisung’s mind. Soon everything will be even quieter than it already is. The gold and pink hues of sunset will disappear and be exchanged for darkness, that will be turning deeper and deeper when the sun makes way for the moon to cast its light upon the earth for the next multiple hours. The woods are falling asleep with the sun. The life around is turning on the “night-mode” as moths, bats and owls will soon come to fly their flights and it high up in the deep blue sky that will soon fill with shiny stars and the almost full moon. 

He can hear the roar of a stag as the majestic creature moves along with nature surrounding it, rubbing his antlers against the trees as he goes. There is almost nothing out of the order between the resting trees and calmly moving animals creating the harmony of the deep forests and nature itself. The forest breathes with him like it always does, as it does with all the other animals breathing, living in the woods. A squirrel stops what it is doing only to run down the branch in front of his nest that he was perched on and onto Jisung’s shoulder. His little paws are holding a golden brown nut that he reaches towards the man, offering the lone piece of food to him. With a smile, he takes the offering and helps the fluffy animal back onto the tree. He hides the nut into the back pocket of his pants. He will put it somewhere where someone who needs it will find it. He always does it whenever forest creatures give him food that they would need more than he does. There are some of the gifts that he keeps for his own to eat, but it is rarer than his choice to gift it to someone in need of it.

He walks around and watches how little animals curl up in their nests, hiding their noses in their tails and closing their eyes on their way to the dreamland. The mother-fox takes one of her playful cubs, that seemed to wish to keep on playing, by her scruff and takes her into the burrow as well. The squirrel, who had gifted him with a nut, curls up and hides his nose under his fluffy tail, covering his eyes and ears as well in his natural fluffy blanket. An owl ruffles his piebald feathers nearby and hoots softly. Once the light has disappeared a bat surges down from heights after its pray just in front of Jisung. The already quite quiet forest had lost a lot of its previous noises, exchanged them for the softer tones of night.

The peace is interrupted by a desperate scream of his name that echos through the calmness. A crow launches itself from the tree towards the sky at that with a sharp cry of its own. There are many scurrying feet of mice running towards every possible hiding spot, birds fly off with their battle cries, the little owls that had sit near the old one huddle together on their branch, making no noise. There is a short pause before that someone cries out his name again as loudly, as desperately as previously. 

He knows the voice. He would recognize it no matter what. He could be deep in sleep and still recognize him. He has heard Jeno scream when tickled enough times to know what his screams sound like even a little but never has he heard the other so deeply distressed to sound so scared, so hopeless. His voice carries fear in it, the desperation that clearly surges through the horror of whatever has happened has Jisung alert. He has never heard Jeno like that, deep in his heart he hopes that he never has to hear him like that again.

Jeno screams for him multiple more times as Jisung turns to hurry towards the sound of his voice. His voice grows in desperation and fear with every time, it grows louder as it begs for attention. Jisung doesn’t reach the other, he probably isn't even halfway to the other when another scream breaches the air around the woods. Horror. Fear. Agony. Splash of water and after a short time of struggling - quietness. Not a single sound echos between the woods to accompany Jisung's breathing that is picking up its speed with every second of quietness that passes. No steps. No harsh breathing. No screams. Only the peace of the woods without any outsiders to breach through its calm and calculated walls. 

Jisung’s heart stops. No. Not Jeno. Anyone but him.

He runs. He runs as fast as he can. He needs to find the other one, he needs him in his arms right now. His sensitive ears listen to everything around, straining to hear any sound the older could make. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that could be the work of a human. His nose picks up the trail of Jeno’s scent and once in Jisung’s life it doesn’t calm him, it only further distresses him. Now there is no doubt that it truly was Jeno and not his mind playing twisted tricks on him. He is crazed with worry, as there is no way to know that the other is alright, by the time he reaches the shore of the dark lake. Jeno’s scent disappears into thin air at the edge of the water. No. Jisung's hands start shaking as the picture of cold and dead Jeno flashes through his mind. He shakes his head, forcing the picture of the others cold and blue lips and soulless eyes out of his mind.

Jisung dives after him. The water is freezing cold around him. Its black stillness is impossible to breach with sight. Jisung can’t see anyone under the water, he can't see his own hands in front of his face unless his fingers almost touch his nose. It feels like someone put a bag on his head as if he fell into a can of black paint that now embraces him whole in its cold arms. His heart beats wildly as there truly is a bag on his head that claims the arrival of death penalty about to be carried out on his neck.

The tiny bubbles dance towards the surface of the water, air leaving his already aching lungs one bubble at the time taking the crucial hope his heart tries to hold onto with it, till it feels like there is nothing left to breathe and hope for. With trouble crowding his mind he goes up for air and back down again as fast as he can manage. His worry doesn't gift him any moments to even breath in as deeply as he would be able to.

The darkness underneath the water leaves him to only guess where Jeno could be. Again and again, he has to go up for air as he guesses wrong. Every one of these times settles the panic deeper into his heart. It hurts to know that he might fail Jeno when he has never failed him even if it was dangerous to even think of him, he still came to their meetings every time. 

He can’t lose Jeno, not him, not his only friend and the only living person who has ever cared about him even a little bit. Not the only person he loves.

He surges under the water once again, after pulling some air into his lungs to help him go deep under, further from the land than he has gone so far. The panic is holding his heart in its iron-like grasp, the sliver of hope is drying up and will soon become nothing. He doesn’t want to give up, doesn’t want to throw everything Jeno has ever done for him out like that so soon after barely trying. 

He wants to at least bury him if it comes to the point where he can't save the other's life from the claws of freezing death that begs for his soul. He doesn't want to think about it, he won't think about it. Nothing so horrible will happen to Jeno, it can't just happen to him like that. Death can't just take an angel away from the world like that, without any goodbyes.

He forces the evil voices whispering in his mind out of his head. It is wrong. Jeno isn’t dead yet, he can’t be. No matter how much time passes, Jisung can’t just give up on him like that, as if he is nothing. He needs to fight for the man who gave him back the reason to live, who saved his soul from hell's hold.

His lungs start burning, he needs to go up for air soon again. Seconds tick by ever so merciless. His eyes burn and his fingers keep getting caught in the plants wrapping themselves around his fingers underneath the water. His hands only meet the water and plants, but no Jeno., no warm body or clothing, no sign of a person besides him under the coldness of the water. 

He almost turns to swim up again when his fingers touch something that feels like the fabric of an expensive suit. With a flash of hope that surges through his mind, he dives deeper after the sliver of hope he had seconds ago touched, that keeps floating further away from him.

His fingers graze against the fabric again and Jisung gets a hold of it and through that also of Jeno’s shoulder. His heart beats so wildly in his chest, it feels like it is going to break through his ribcage this instant, he prays towards every god he knows the names of, that Jeno will live. He can’t bear to lose the only person in his life. He can’t bare going the rest of his days without the other's warm smiles and impromptu hugs.

The cold water breaks over his head and his starving lungs are filled with air once again. The fresh night air floods him, the soft wind blows through his wet hair strands.

His eyes fall onto the unconscious man laying on the sandy coast of the lake. His dark eyelashes cast looming terrifying shadows on his cheeks, his lips are blue and parted in his last gasp for breath that he took, his hair is sticking to his forehead in every possible direction. His chest is still and his heart quiet. 

Jisung’s hands curl up over Jeno’s heart, he puts his whole agony into bringing Jeno back. Tears stream down his face. His hands shake as he removes them, his lips tremble upon Jeno’s.

“Please don’t die, come back to me.”

Jisung's words are only a quiet prayer dancing between the trees and no real answer comes to him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm not dead, I have not abandoned this work and neither will I do these things.
> 
> Comments and kudos are always welcomed <3

Violent coughs shake through Jeno’s body. The wind that blows through his wet clothes makes him shiver against someone's warm hold. Without even thinking about it, he snuggles closer to the others warmth. So, so warm, burningly so. Or he is just so cold that whoever is holding him against their shoulder just feels hotter than a regular human being. Their hand is rubbing against his lower back in soothing circles. It does indeed make everything feel better than it is in reality.

He tries to lift his head from the person’s shoulder, only to realize how much it hurts to move. He feels so weak that even the thought of moving on his own makes him want to faint and his head hurts so badly. His throat burns as do his lungs. With a whimper that he can't seem to hold inside, he lays his head back onto the stranger's shoulder. Comes whatever comes, there isn't much for him to do anyway. It's not like he can fight or stay awake for the matter of fact.

His eyes fall shut involuntarily as he feels the other pick him up from the cold forest floor. After that is only darkness as he slips back into unconsciousness. 

The next time he comes back to his senses, he feels a lot warmer. There are no wet clothes covering him anymore and no wind threatening to blow him away like a leaf in autumn storms. Did he dream about falling into the water? 

Instead of cold and harsh waters burying him alive, there is something so utterly warm and soft next to him as if protecting him. Like a huge dog has decided to cuddle him and keep him warm in the safety of his hugs. More like a bear, considering his size. There is fur underneath his fingers when they ghost over the source of warmth. It makes him feel safe so he lets the darkness take him underneath its wing once again.

When the darkness subsides, he is alone on a bed. The dog is no longer there and no signs show that it ever was there. He knows for sure that he didn't dream of it though. 

The absence of the dog gives him a chance to look around the room he is in. It looks cosy and simple, like a home in the middle of the woods, wooden and warm, but he has never been here before. To be honest, he has no idea who found him or where he actually is. He doesn't even know if there is anyone here with him who would wish to harm him, or anyone at all to be honest.

He doesn't get a chance to panic and figure out how to escape before the door to the room creaks open softly. Jeno's gaze is nailed to the opening door in fright. What if the person isn't one for good intentions? What if he is going to die and never see Jisung again? No, he must not think about it so negatively. He WILL see Jisung again.

His eyes fill with involuntary tears when he sees that it is Jisung who enters the room with a tray of some type of steaming food. The other stumbles and almost drops the food platter he is carrying, before hurrying over to Jeno's side almost twice as fast as he actually seemed to plan.

He never took Jisung for someone so motherly and caring. There has never been a situation where the other had to worry about him. But Jisung proves Jeno wrong. He has asked only in the last minute about four different variations of "are you okay?" or "how are you feeling?".

Though, no answer seems to be good enough as the worried look in his eyes isn't going anywhere at all, if anything at all, it seems to grow as he realizes that Jeno can barely talk and even then he sounds like death. Jeno decides that the best course of action is to just hug the other, show him that his arms move and his heart hasn't frozen over while he was in the lake. It sure feels like it, his limbs still feel heavy and tired, but they move just fine and everything will turn out alright as always.

He would laugh at the squeak that escapes Jisung if his throat wasn't hurting like it was lit on fire about twenty times over and over again. It had only gotten worse with all the talking he had done. His attempt to laugh that he can't tame ends up in a harsh coughing fit that makes tears stream down his face at the pain. It makes it just worse. Jisung must have noticed for he hurries to feed him the soup he brought to the room when he came. 

The hot broth soothes his sore throat and he doesn't feel like coughing out his guts for the world to see anymore. It's like a burden that has been lifted from his shoulders that he hadn't noticed before. He never thought that something so simple could change the way he feels almost instantly.

He smiles at Jisung warmly and snuggles back close to him once again and the other's eyes lit up like Christmas came earlier than usual. Jeno doesn't notice the red tint covering Jisung's cheeks at his cuddly actions. 

"Why didn't you tell me you have a dog?"

Jeno's question is asked with the curiosity of a child. He has always loved animals, that's the shortest way to his heart. He pulls back from the hug slightly to stare at Jisung in pure wonder. 

"I don't have a dog?"

It sounds like a question. Jisung's fingers fiddle with the hem of his T-shirt and his eyes seem to look everywhere but into Jeno's eyes. He pulls the other man back against him though, maybe to hide how nervous the question actually made him. 

"Sad, it was just a dream, he felt so soft and safe though, I wish it was real."

Jeno sounds so sad like this. Jisung almost wants to tell him that he has a dog, despite not owning one, despite never having seen one who felt comfortable around him.

Even if Jeno noticed the way Jisung brightened up at that and almost looked to be ready to wiggle his butt in the bed like a puppy wags it's tail so that their whole body shakes with it, he doesn't mention it.


End file.
